Thousands of local residents and visitors enjoyed a sunny weekend in celebration of the 91st San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo.
The three-day rodeo took place at Bolado Park Event Center in Tres Pinos, and featured a full slate of popular local traditions, customs, competitions and recognitions. Hundreds of rodeo participants competed in more than a dozen events, including dally team roping, bull riding, cattle sorting, steer wrestling, tie down roping and San Benito County’s signature event, figure 8 roping.
The rodeo is also known for celebrating the local ranching and farming community with fundraising, performances and awards. The 2025 rodeo was the first in which event directors awarded scholarships to local students, rodeo President Dave Westrick said.
The scholarship winners were Lillian Mendonsa and Dan Nino, who each received $2,000. Both are longtime local rodeo contestants and will be attending Cal Poly in the fall, Westrick said.
This year was also the first time the local rodeo awarded a Ladies All-Around Arena buckle, with Elliote Sparling earning the title.
The 2025 rodeo All-Around Senior Open Arena title went to CJ DeForest. The All-Around Senior Track winner was Billy Martin; All-Around Junior Arena went to Maycee Mullins; and All-Around Junior Track went to Audrey Chavez.
Attendance was nearly sold out throughout the weekend, and this year’s rodeo saw a 4.9% increase in contestants, for a total of 430 competitors.
Another annual highlight of the San Benito County Rodeo is the Friday night barbecue, which on June 27 drew about 800 attendees. The rodeo raised about $35,000 in auction proceeds during the barbecue, Westrick said.
“This year we had really great weather throughout all of our events over the last few weeks,” Westrick said in a press release. “We would like to thank Miss San Benito Rodeo 2024, Emily Drost, for all the great work she did on our association’s behalf over her year. We are looking forward to next year with our 2025 Miss San Benito Rodeo, Francesca Donati.”
